Finish the Race

Acts 20:17-38 — Paul's Exhortation to the Ephesian Elders

In the second half of Acts 20, Luke records the Apostle Paul’s only speech made exclusively to believers. This scene in Luke's narrative turns our attention away from the churches Paul labored to plant to his approaching imprisonment and suffering. Paul's journey to Jerusalem and later to Rome mirrors Jesus’s journey to Jerusalem and the way He prepared the disciples for His absence in Luke 9–19. Likewise, Paul is preparing the churches for the vacuum in leadership that his absence will create. Paul's exhortation to the Ephesian Church and her elders could be said to any of the churches he planted. This passage tells the churches how to carry on now that they will minister without Paul's leadership. 

As will be confirmed in Acts 21:11, Paul ominously announces to the Ephesian elders that the Spirit is leading (compelling) him to go to Jerusalem (Acts 20:22) where he knew that imprisonment and afflictions await him (Acts 20:23). He does not know exactly what will follow other than that imprisonment and affliction will come. In Romans, which was written a few months before this meeting with the Ephesian elders, Paul requests prayer for the same situation with the same tone (Romans 15:30–31). No matter what is he going to face, Paul does not even regard his life as being of ultimate value but rather that the gospel is preached. He will write later, "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21). His only desire is to accomplish that to which the Lord Jesus has called him. Paul compares his ministry to a race to be completed. Paul is determined to faithfully walk with God, wherever it may take him. He does not need to be certain where he is going or what he shall face to be faithful to God. He needs only to carry out his ministry. In 2 Timothy, the last epistle to be written by Paul, he says that he did finish the race:


Are you running the race that the Lord has called you to?
Is there a crown of righteousness laid up for you when the Lord returns?

-Pastor Stephen